The International Olympic Committee will consider abandoning plans for an international torch relay in advance of the 2012 Games following the violent protests that accompanied the Olympic flame's progress through Paris and London in the past two days.

Olympic sources said yesterday the IOC was likely to review its position on relays in light of the clashes, a move that would undermine Britain's plans to stage an international event in the build-up to 2012. During their successful bid the London Games' organisers committed to holding a domestic relay, and said they would consider staging an international "journey of hope and reconciliation".

After Sunday's troubled event in London, those plans were already under review. The IOC's move may yet take the decision out of their hands.

A spokeswoman for the London Games said organisers were committed to a domestic torch relay but no decision had been taken on the international leg. Senior IOC members and representatives of all 205 national Olympic committees are meeting in Beijing this week. While coverage of events in Paris and London has been censored by the Chinese authorities, it has been fiercely debated by delegates.

Lord Coe, the London Olympic Committee chairman, described the Chinese security guards escorting the torch as "thugs", it emerged last night. His comments were overheard by Channel 4 News after a reporter was inadvertently connected to a private telephone conversation between Coe and a press officer.

Discussing the French leg of the relay, Coe said the organisers should "get rid of those guys". He added: "They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English ... I think they were thugs." A spokeswoman for London 2012 confirmed Coe had made the remarks.

International coverage of the demonstrations in Paris and London has been a public relations disaster for Beijing, which conceived the torch relay as "a journey of harmony". The torch has become a lightning rod for opponents of the Chinese regime and Beijing is braced for further embarrassment when the torch arrives in San Francisco tomorrow.

Protesters in San Francisco climbed the Golden Gate bridge yesterday as organisers were forced to change the route of the relay. The original route took the torch across the bridge and included a stop in Chinatown. All those elements have been removed in favour of a modest six-mile loop along the city's waterfront.

The IOC is aware of the damage the global protests could do to the Olympic brand, but insists that issues relating to China have prompted the protests.

Jacques Rogge, the IOC's president, took the unusual step of publicly questioning Chinese policy in Tibet when he addressed Olympic delegates in Beijing. "I am very concerned with the international situation and what is happening," he said. "The torch relay has been targeted. The IOC has expressed its serious concern and calls for a rapid peaceful resolution in Tibet."

At a press conference in Beijing, torch relay organisers condemned the actions of a "small number of pro-Tibet independence activists" and said local people in London "strongly condemned the attempt to sabotage the torch relay".

In London the Metropolitan police defended their policing of the relay, during which 37 people were arrested, but admitted they had been surprised by the sustained intensity of the protests. Commander Bob Broadhurst, who was in charge of policing on Sunday, said: "We have ended with a spectacle that was not as dignified as I would have hoped, for the Metropolitan police, the torch or the Olympic movement." Broadhurst denied claims that police had arrested people for wearing T-shirts with pro-Tibet slogans.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights group Liberty, said: "Who were the chilling figures in blue running in formation with the relay and who authorised them to scuffle with protesters and policemen alike? At a time when even security guards are regulated by law, what was [their] remit and rules of engagement?"